Firefighter injured during Sunday fire at apartment

A Cape Girardeau firefighter was injured Sunday morning while putting out an apartment fire at 1412 Lexington.

Battalion chief Steve Niswonger said a captain in the department received an electric shock while in the attic above second-floor apartment number 12. Niswonger did not release the captain's name, but said the man was treated and released from St. Francis Medical Center.

The captain went to the hospital as a precaution but the injury wasn't serious, Niswonger said.

The blaze, which was called into the fire department at 8:56 a.m., caused heavy fire damage to apartment 12, where it appears to have started at the outlet where the refrigerator was plugged in.

The fire spread south through the attic, causing the attic roof to partially collapse. A neighboring apartment sustained water damage to the ceilings and light smoke damage. The unit below apartment 12 sustained minor water damage.

Cindy Biggs and a child were in the apartment at the time of the fire but were not injured.